Tuesday, 29 September 2015

JW Anderson - An Upgrade from Androgyny: LFW S/S16

JW
Anderson’s Spring/Summer 2016 collection was presented as ‘odyssey oscillating
between intergalactic Olympics and empowered femininity’ – an ambitiously broad
scope to cover a sixteen minute show. Andy Warhol (the man who correctly
predicted that ‘in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes’) droned
over a tannoy from Martin Scorcese’s Public
Speaking soundtrack. But how far has society come since Campbell Soup Cans? Acid brights had
found us again, unquestionably, and oversized shoulders also recalled the eighties. Waist-clinchers with raised
tracksuit-like trousers chanced vivaciously sharp prints; the explicitness
residing in the vivacious squiggle prints that we recall from the era, paired
with knitted jackets, taperering, and slim silhouettes. Though, the finer
elements were in the details that bookended this sense of exuberance well, like
layered frills and cufflink turned up sleeves. Anderson wanted to create a
‘tension between the pop cultural with the sinister’, and he did exactly that.
Most evidently so was the mismatch of lace with plastic, an ominous
collaboration of textures indeed. Anderson showed to control volume and
structure, but emphasised the sleek and willowy too, layering bras and bralets
over frills, and cross-harnessing bags over other pieces, alluding to the
sensuality of the spaghetti strap much more adorned in the nineties. Colour was
fragmented and under command of the consistent doodle prints, which took centre
stage. Anderson, who also stands as creative director at Loewe demonstrated the
kitsch co-operating with the ethereal here: his collection was not modest, nor
was it meant to be. Femininity was presented as resilient and perky, a pleasant
change to his search for the meaning of the androgynous. Whereas Burberry
brought the charisma and glamour, and Mary Katrantou showed off a space age, JW
Anderson sought to demonstrate the power of the sixties through allusion to
sportswear and underwear, and did so wittily, and the label exemplifies itself once
again as one of the most elite fashion houses since its birth five years ago.